banks or post office?

[karekora]

As you've been brill giving me advice so far, I'm relying on you to give you honest opinion again to me!!

When I get to Japan, what shall I do about my money? For example, at the moment, I'm with Lloyds TSB bank in England, but shouldn't I transfer my money into a Japanese bank so I can easily get to it in Japan?
I don't think they have Lloyds in Japan do they?

I've heard that Japanese Post Offices have bank accounts which are quite good for foreingers. Is that better/easier than a bank??

How did you deal with your money when you moved from your home country to Japan?

Thx again you f*cked gaijin'ers!

[Steve Bildermann]

Of course it depends on 'how much' you are going to transfer. Yes. there is a Lloyds bank in Japan. Exchanging money is a business and it always 'pays' to shop around. The best rates in the world are in Hong Kong. Fly from Uk to Hong Kong, have a few days shopping, exchange your UK cash to Japanese Yen, buy yourself a one year open round trip HK-Japan air ticket and fly up to Narita. Pop back to Hong Kong every year and do your cash business, shopping and holidaying. Buy yourself another round trip plane ticket.

FYI most of Japan's travel agents buy tickets in Hong Kong, with a bit of leg work, a bit of haggling and a few threats of physical violence you can get yourself some neat deals like 'round the world' - 1st class JAL for under 280.000 yen.

I've been on that system for thirty years. The exchange rates in Hong Kong are always 4-7 points under spot, the difference pays for the plane ticket, hotel and shopping trip.

Here are some threads dealing with Money, Banks and transfers

http://www.fuckedgaijin.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1436&highlight=lloyds

http://www.fuckedgaijin.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3851&highlight=lloyds

http://www.fuckedgaijin.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7432&highlight=lloyds

[karekora]

Thx Steve, but going to HK may be worth it, but its out of the question for me, unfortunately.

I looked at the sites you linked/....

Anyway, as I seem to be a completely ignorant Londoner, can you explain something for me...

As Lloyds have a branch or 2 in Tokyo, does that mean I have no need to temporarily transfer all my cash (or at least a large sum of it) into a Japanese bank/post office? I can do all the normal things I do here in England with my local branch on my doorstep, in Japan? All I need to do is change my local bank to a bank in Japan?
I know ATMs accept my card in Japan, but can I still put money into my account, bank cheques...etc??

Its a lot easier than I'd thought!!!
Cheers!

[katakori]

when you do a poll, always add a "other" at the end.
i opened an account here but it is a citibank. not the same as home, and not japanese bank, and not post office...

[omae mona]

it is a citibank. not the same as home, and not japanese bank

From what I know Citibank - in Japan - is a Japanese bank in every legal sense. Granted, profits go back overseas to parent Citicorp, but other than that, I don't think having an account there's any different than having an account at Mizuho or UFJ or whatever. No direct relationship with Citibank in the U.S. either, to my knowledge, except they share a name.

[katakori]

well, ok. but it has services/features not offered at japanese-named banks. also, it does operate differently on some levels, the way it treats foreign currencies etc.
it might be a japanese company working in japan under the japanese law, but i would still see it as a foreign company's venture in japan. they don't only share the name, your citibank card can be used to withdraw cash in any citibank teller worldwide with no fee for instance.
vodafone, on the other hand seem to be more like a japanese company than a branch of their worldwide empire.

[karekora]

so getting back to the point (?)...

would it be more beneficial for me to go thru the loooooong and annoying process of joing and transfering all my cash to a japanese bank or shall i be lazy & keep with my home bank?

**excuse me I'm a little stressed**

[katakori]

so getting back to the point (?)...

welcome to FG

[Ptyx]

Give more details. How long are do you plan to stay in Japan ? Do you have money coming from england on a regular basis etc
I kept my account back home and opened a citibank account here. Maybe i should have gone post office, the thing is i wanted english speaking people as far as money was concerned.
My japanese ain't that bad but it ain't that good either. This is also something you should be concerned with. If you have an intermediate level in japanese and no one to help it might become painful.
The other thing is that you can conduct most of the operations via internet with citibank (currency exchange, money transfer etc...) in english. Don't know if that's the case with the post office.
Citibank is still a rip off they basically take 2000y/month if you don't have a certain sum on your account (don't remember the exact sum but it's ridiculously high).
But Hey TIJ !

[Taro Toporific]

..would it be more beneficial for me to go thru the loooooong and annoying process of joinng and transferring all my cash to a Japanese bank or shall I be lazy & keep with my home bank?

If you are single young guy who has never been to Japan before, just bring about 500,000 to one million yen cash or pain-in-the-ass TC. Your Japanese Employer will force you to get an account in their keiretsu (group affiliated) bank. In other words, doing nothing and being lazy is a good idea.

Even if you are crazy enough to want to come to the Land-of-Concrete(tm), statistically speaking you won't be staying. More than 80% of FG wannabes leave by before the end of one year. Even if you do stay in Japan, you MUST have a USA-, UK-, et al issued credit card to buy things online from back home. Also, closing your home bank account really screws your credit rating.

If you are opening a business (10-100 million yen), stopover Hong Kong first as Steve B suggested.

If you're married and on the "Package" use Citibank IF it's convenient to your home (or you wanna try do everything online). I hardly use my Citibank account because:
1. Citibank is not conveniently located to me except at the Post Office ATM and I already have a postal account] keiretsu[/i] banks.


BOTTOM LINE: Don't fret: One way or another, you will end up with a handful of bank accounts just like all Japanese folks. :P

[karekora]

[karekora]

hi.

I went to my bank today about other things, but I asked about my trip to Japan anyway. They said that any English bank will charge you 1.75% if out take out money from an ATM machine in Japan. I knew this anyway, but I didn't realise it was so steep!

anyway, the man advised me to keep my account with them open (as if he'd say anything else...!!) but also open up an Japanese bank account in London. (There must be a Japanese bank in London somewhere) so i can deal with my money in Japan without the overseas charges.

So, anyone know of a quality Japanese bank in London??

I've heard theres a few in Moorgate - Sanwa and Mitsubishi??

(I don't fancy Citibank as you have to keep a certain amount in your account, or you'll be charged for it. But, if its the only / easiest option...)

[Maths Dude]

My advice is: Don't keep your money in 'fiat' money. Buy gold before the world economy collapses! Once the shit really hits the fan, the gold price will doule or triple over night. I don't give the economy more than 2 or 3 years before it's in its final stages of death.

[djgizmoe]

Yeah, Citibank's 'poor person' fee is annoying. That's why I gave up on it, although someday I may reconsider getting another account there. I've got a normal Japanese bank account (kinda hard to avoid when your wife works at UFJ) for day to day, and am just starting a small investment/savings portfolio with a Tokyo-based Canadian broker, which seems to work out well. Post office accounts are fine, and reasonably convenient, but many companies (my university included) pay by direct deposit and cannot (or don't want to) do so into a postal account.

[karekora]

does anyone know of a japanese bank in london?

[Naniwan Kid]

I think Bank of Tokyo/Mitsubishi has a London Branch. If you are getting paid in Japan, then open up a Japanese Bank account. They don't really charge anything. I have had a hard time using ATM's in Japan with a Visa or my own ATM card from U.S. Bank. I could only take money out at Citibank.

[karekora]

ok ive found a few japanese banks in london. **maybe japanese**

see here

http://homepages.tcp.co.uk/~kiyo/company/bankE.htm



I want a 'normal' bank that anyone can go to NOT a business/rich bank??
ie - a barclays/lloyds/Halifax style bank.

--what bank would you, a normal working class person, join to get a normal classic current account?

[Mulboyne]

Unless things have changed since I last looked, I think you are barking up the wrong tree looking to open a domestic Japanese account through the overseas office of one of the banks. Similarly, I doubt whether Lloyds in Japan would be much help in opening a UK domestic account. They may be able to give you a referral which could smooth the way to opening an account when you arrive in Japan.
I think you've had all the advice based on what you've told us so far. For domestic accounts you can choose Citibank, Post Office or major Japanese bank. The only other spin I can think of is to open a Citibank Global Banking account. This is a UK based account but you can have a yen account on it and use the cash card in ATMs in Japan at no charge (provided the yen account is set as the default). But, since it is an overseas account, you won't be able to do domestic bank transfers. And any salary you earn locally can't be paid into it either.

[kotatsuneko]

lloyds in jpn are useless, near igirisuya regent st there may still be some jpn banks (used to be 3 i thunk) totally agree with Mulboyne about settimg it up in jpn btw

i used bank of hokkaido - great service and no hassles

[kotatsuneko]

sakura still trade in the uk i think, tho imho a citibank + a domestic account might be good & make sure you set up your online banking with lloyds b4 you go..

the beaureax de change opposite the jpn centre often has great rates btw.

ps dont 4get a crate of deodorant (2 if going to tokyo)

[karekora]

I'm going to wait til I get to Japan to set up a bank account. Mainly because of what was said here, but also because I'm going to feel like an idiot walking into a Japanese bank in london, them all thinking "What's she doing in here?!" - I look younger than I am...

I wanted to set up an account with a Japanese bank in England, purely because the staff will speak English (...hopefully!!).

I will take loads of deodrant, I've heard that before.... Whats so bad with it? Does it stink?! Anything else I should take??